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Physical Design Intern Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Etched

RTL Intern

San Jose, CA · On-site

Job Summary As an RTL Intern at Etched, you will help design microarchitecture and implement logic ... Familiarity with physical design flows and tooling * Are able to learn quickly about transformers ...

Etched

DV Intern

San Jose, CA · On-site

Job Summary As a Design Verification intern, you will ensure the custom IPs powering our chips ... Familiarity with physical design flows and tooling * Are able to learn quickly about transformers ...

Etched

RTL Intern

San Jose, CA · On-site

Job Summary As an RTL Intern at Etched, you will help design microarchitecture and implement logic ... Familiarity with physical design flows and tooling * Are able to learn quickly about transformers ...

Etched

DV Intern

San Jose, CA · On-site

Job Summary As aDesign Verification intern, you will ensure the custom IPs powering our chips ... Familiarity with physical design flows and tooling * Are able to learn quickly about transformers ...

PWP Landscape Architecture

$25/hr

... design sense with physical materiality in a design proposal that culminates in a juried review ... INTERN

ACCO Engineered Systems

Design Engineer

Pasadena, CA · On-site

Detailed physical design experience in the development of mechanical general arrangements, piping ... Prior intern experience with mechanical contractor and/or engineering consultant Desired : * 2-5 ...

ACCO Engineered Systems

Design Engineer

Pasadena, CA · On-site

Detailed physical design experience in the development of mechanical general arrangements, piping ... Prior intern experience with mechanical contractor and/or engineering consultant Desired : * 2-5 ...

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All JobsPhysical Design Intern JobsPhysical Design Intern Jobs in California

Physical Design Intern information

See California salary details

$9

$19

$36

How much do physical design intern jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 13, 2026, the average hourly pay for physical design intern in California is $19.12, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $14.23 and $21.35 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What kinds of projects or tasks can I expect as a physical design intern?

As a Physical Design Intern, you can expect to assist with tasks such as floorplanning, placement and routing, timing analysis, and design rule checking as part of the ASIC or SOC development flow. You'll typically work closely with experienced physical design engineers, learning industry-standard tools and participating in meetings where design challenges and optimization strategies are discussed. Interns may also be given opportunities to automate tasks through scripting or contribute to documentation for internal processes. This role provides a hands-on introduction to the semiconductor industry and allows you to gain practical skills that are highly valuable for entry-level positions or future specialization within chip design.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a physical design intern?

To thrive as a Physical Design Intern, you should have a solid understanding of digital integrated circuit fundamentals, basic knowledge of VLSI concepts, and be working toward a degree in electrical or computer engineering. Familiarity with EDA tools such as Cadence, Synopsys, or Mentor Graphics, as well as scripting languages like TCL or Python, is highly advantageous. Strong analytical thinking, attention to detail, and effective communication skills will set you apart when collaborating with team members and troubleshooting complex design issues. These skills are crucial for ensuring high-quality chip designs that meet performance, area, and power requirements in real-world hardware development.

What is a physical design intern?

A Physical Design Intern assists in the back-end design and implementation of integrated circuits (ICs). Responsibilities typically include floorplanning, placement, routing, timing analysis, and power optimization. Interns work with tools like Cadence or Synopsys and collaborate with design and verification teams to meet performance, power, and area goals. This role provides hands-on experience with the ASIC or FPGA design flow, helping interns develop industry-relevant skills.

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Physical Design Intern jobs near you
Infographic showing various Physical Design Intern job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 77% Full Time, 17% Part Time, 2% Temporary, 2% Contract, and 1% Nights. Highlights an 98% Physical, 1% Hybrid, and 1% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $39,777 per year, or $19.1 per hour.

RTL Intern

Etched

San Jose, CA • On-site

Other

Re-posted 7 days ago

Job description

About Etched

Etched is building hardware for frontier intelligence. We co-design chips, racks, software, and manufacturing to deliver best-in-class throughput and latency across both prefill and decode workloads. Our first products are heavily focused on inference. Backed by hundreds of millions from top-tier investors and staffed by leading engineers, Etched is redefining the infrastructure layer for the fastest growing industry in history.

Job Summary

As an RTL Intern at Etched, you will help design microarchitecture and implement logic in verilog. You will work with cutting-edge machine learning architectures, contribute to RTL block development, and participate in the full design cycle—from microarchitecture discussions to synthesis and timing feedback. You do not necessarily need prior ML/AI hardware experience; just the ability to learn quickly in a fast-paced, high-autonomy environment. We are looking for Fall '26, Spring '27, and Summer '27 interns.

You may be a good fit if you have

  • Progress towards a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a related field.

  • Familiarity with high-speed digital logic

  • Exposure to ASIC or SoC design concepts

  • Familiarity with SystemVerilog, UVM, or Python

  • Familiarity with verification work and writing test benches

  • Familiarity with physical design flows and tooling

  • Are able to learn quickly about transformers and other aspects of modern artificial intelligence

Strong candidates may also have experience with

  • Familiarity with modern ML and LLM model architectures

  • Familiarity with numerical representations and functions

  • Familiarity with clocking and reset schemes

  • ​Ability to program with Python or another scripting language

We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification.

Program details

  • 12-week paid internship

  • Generous housing support for those relocating

  • Daily lunch and dinner in our office

  • Based at our office in San Jose, CA

  • Direct mentorship from industry leaders and world-class engineers

  • Opportunity to work on one of the most important problems of our time

For any questions, contact internships@etched.com

How we’re different

Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson. We are the first inference-focused frontier AI system. Our addressable market is the entirety of inference, unlike many of our competitors.

 

We are a fully in-person team in San Jose (Santana Row), and greatly value engineering skills. We do not have boundaries between engineering and research, and we expect all of our technical staff to contribute to both and work across disciplines as needed.